94 STATE POMOIvOGICAL SOCIETY. 



in splitting later in the life of the tree. It is not necessary that 

 this should happen, but it is quite likely to do so unless careful 

 pruning is practiced the years following. 



Here is a closely planted orchard which the owner thought he 

 would remedy by trimming up. cutting back, making smaller, 

 in this way making each tree smaller. It is only a sort of pal- 

 liative, working for a short time. It isn't the fundamental 

 remedy. The fundamental remedy lies in removing the trees 

 entirely. 



To go back again to the practical phases of pruning. The 

 right kind of a cut is one made close down to the body of the 

 tree. Don't leave any shoulder at all. The closer you cut the 

 quicker it will heal over. I don't know how long a good apple 

 tree would live that was properly cared for, but thousands of 

 apple trees die each year for lack of reasonable care. 



Now we have an orchard in which interplanting has been 

 practiced. In this case the secondary crop is strawberries. 

 Now whether you grow strawberries or cabbage will depend 

 largely on the condition of your soil and on the kind of market 

 you have. If you have a market for strawberries, I don't think 

 there is any difficulty about growing them, or cabbage, or any- 

 thing else, even though it may be what you call an exhausting 

 crop. The good cultivation will make up to the soil what the 

 secondary crop will take out. It is a question of judgment and 

 generosity. 



Question. Are strawberries continued all the time? 



Prof. Craig. In that particular orchard — and it is now four 

 or five years older than at the time of this picture — strawberries 

 haven't been grown of course continuously, but the strawberries 

 are used, in the rotation, and they have been grown right along 

 in the row except for a space of three or four feet around the 

 tree; that space is cultivated by hand. 



And now we come to the important question of tillage, the 

 question of the influence of tillage on the yields. Our figures 

 here comprise a period of four years, and covering that period 

 they may be regarded as fairly reliable. We were obliged to 

 class our orchards into groups, the first group being that lot 

 of orchards which were tilled for five years or more previous to 

 the examination; the second those which were tilled more 

 <often than they were not tilled but had not been tilled for five 



